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WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP: GAME 5
Everything was stacked against the Glendale Redbirds going into game 5. They were on the road. They were in a win or go home situation. Their starter, Dennis Gunderson had really struggled in game 2 of the series. But they decided to take the approach that they had no pressure on them. They weren’t supposed to be here. They were under .500 on the regular season. If they were to lose, it was what everyone expected. On the other hand, they said, it would be embarrassing for Mesa to lose. They finished well ahead of the Redbirds on the regular season. They were the ones that had pressure. The Glendale players just needed to go out and play loose and let things happen naturally. Yeah. That was it.
Glendale jumped on Mesa starter Cody Francis early. John Barrera doubles to lead off the game and scored on a single by Kevin Wade. With two out, Wade came around to score when JD Romagnoli reaches base on an error. Glendale had an early two run lead.
Gunderson gave up a leadoff single to Ian Fraser in the bottom of the opening frame. That was followed by an error putting runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. Gunderson worked out of the jam for maintain his early 2-0 lead.
Mesa strung together a couple of hits again in the 2nd but ended up with nothing on the scoreboard to show for it.
With one out in the third, Justin Winterbottom singles and scored on a Kevin Wade triple. Wade came home to score on a sacrifice fly y Jordan Powell and the Redbirds had a 4-0 lead. Things were starting to look pretty good.
Gunderson couldn’t find the strike zone to start the bottom of the 4th, walking the first two batters he faced. After Adam Boeck singles to load the bases, singles by Jon Simon and Ian Fraser plated two for the Spiders. Gunderson then walked Jeff Beasley to force in a run and was removed from the game. Danny Vaccaro replaces him and gave up a game tying single to Bill Howard. Matt Bracken recorded the first out of the inning when he hit a sacrifice fly to left giving Mesa the lead. No other runs scored in the inning, but the damage had been done. The Spiders now led 5-4.
Mesa started to pull away a bit in the bottom of the 5th when Ian Fraser hit a 434 ft home run to make the score 7-4.
Glendale refused to go down without a fight. John Berrera single to lead off the 7th. Justin Winterbottom then doubles, putting runners at 2nd and 3rd. Jordan Powell fouled off several pitches before finally finding one he could drive. He got a hold of the pitch and crushed it into center field for a double. Romagnoli then doubled to drive in Powell and tie the game at 7. Dennis Aldridge was intentionally walked but Kymani Sinclair and Robert Day were unable to push another run across.
Glendale put two men on base in the 8th but couldn’t score.
In the bottom of the 8th, Ian Fraser doubled with one out and Bill Howard walked to put men on first and second with two away. Matt Bracken once again stepped up to the plate with a chance to be a hero. He got ahead in the count 3-1 and then lined a single over the shortstop to put the Spiders ahead 8-7. That would be the only run they could muster before the final out of the inning.
Glendale came to bat in the 9th needing a run to keep their season alive. Romagnoli and Aldridge struck out to start the inning but Sinclair gave the Redbirds hope with a single. Danny Morla was called on to pinch hit and quickly fell behind 0-2. He was able to hold off on a couple of tough pitches and bring the count to 2-2 before punching a liner into right, putting Sinclair in scoring position. The next batter was another pinch hitter, Seth Tomlin, who swung at the first pitch and hit the ball sharply right at Fraser, the Mesa shortstop. Fraser flipped the ball to second for the final out and the Spiders ran to the mound to celebrate. Mesa would represent the Western Conference in the first ever Arizona Series after winning game 5 by a score of 8-7.
Ian Fraser was 4-5 with 1 double, 1 home run, 3 runs scored, and 3 RBI.
Matt Bracken was 2-4 with 2 RBI including the one that put them over the top in the 8th. Bracken was also named series MVP, hitting .421, with 1 home run, 6 RBI, and the two biggest hits in the series. Those hits being the tie breaking single in the 8th inning of game 5 and the momentum shifting three run home run in the 6th inning of game 2.
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